[Gaffer]

As for CFS, I await clear biological evidence it exists. Point to a microbe, an invading cell or other biological unit. To me, the very word “syndrome” connotes inexactness and lays the foundation for all sorts of manipulation that has no connection with the “syndrome,” frankly.

[AppyPappy]

The term “it’s all in your mind” is more true than we think. After all, pain is all in your mind. The disease really does exist but the treatment is many times to get the mind right instead of just drugging the patient to shut them up.
Diet, exercise, acupuncture and meditation can do wonders for people but they are usually the last resort.

[Boogieman]

Syndrome just means they identify it by the symptoms because they don’t know the cause yet. Doesn’t mean the disease is not real. Most syndromes’ causes are eventually identified.

[wafflehouse]

As for CFS, I await clear biological evidence it exists. Point to a microbe, an invading cell or other biological unit. To me, the very word “syndrome” connotes inexactness and lays the foundation for all sorts of manipulation that has no connection with the “syndrome,” frankly.

seems a bit unreasonable to deny the existence of something because the exact cause hasnt been pinpointed. this sounds pretty arrogant to me

[jjsheridan5]

Point to a microbe, an invading cell or other biological unit.

I suspect that virtually all CFS sufferers would be ecstatic if someone could do just that. But, unfortunately, serious diseases don't necessitate such things. Look at it this way: the human body is an indescribably complex system of overlapping, integrated, and semi-independent systems. In most cases, it just "works". But anyone who has done any system design knows that, even in the simple case, it doesn't take much for complex systems to break down. And it doesn't necessitate a microbe or invasion. And if a microbe is involved, the microbe does not need to be anything other than a temporary intrusion to cause a fundamental systemic breakdown.

The bottom line is that we know far less than we think we do, when it comes to medicine. And diseases caused by microbes and malfunctions at the cellular level are really just the low-hanging fruit of medicine. The really hard things are where there are broad, systemic breakdowns, whose effects persist well after (a potentially otherwise innocuous) the cause is long gone. And in complex, interconnected, and nested systems, these types of breakdowns are not only possible, but are essentially inevitable.

CFS is probably quite real. But it is entirely possible that we are decades away from having the basic knowledge of how all of these systems interact in order to grasp why they go awry. Let alone knowing how to fix it. And it is entirely possible that we look back and realize the cause was never something as obvious as a bug or a virus, but rather an unfortunate combination of otherwise harmless environmental factors.

[Seizethecarp]

“As for CFS, I await clear biological evidence it exists. Point to a microbe, an invading cell or other biological unit. To me, the very word ‘syndrome’ connotes inexactness and lays the foundation for all sorts of manipulation that has no connection with the ‘syndrome,’ frankly.”

Many illnesses lack a microbe and exist as a syndrome and are completely accepted...eventually, such as MS, which was considered “all in the mind” of women in the lifetime of our mothers.

The US Gov’t currently calls CFS ME/CFS with the ME short for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which is what the illness was originally called in the UK.

Few people in the US like the name, CFS, because “fatigue” does not describe what we experience...which incapacitating debilitation after minimal exertion.